Editorial: Phil Murphy vs. Stephen Sweeney; North vs. South

Friday

For years, we've heard talk about South Jersey seceding from North Jersey and becoming its own state. It's been easy to laugh off and still is.

While there is no Mason-Dixon Line from Trenton to Asbury Park, in the minds of we South Jerseyans, there has always been a frustrating demarcation between the favored North and the forgotten South.

The state of South Jersey may be a dream that some will cling to forever, but there is a real civil war brewing between "North" Gov. Phil Murphy and the "Southern" contingent led by Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd of West Deptford, and longtime, behind-the-scenes South Jersey honcho George Norcross III.

Maybe it's time the idea of secession was given more serious consideration, because this is more than a political battle between two factions of the same party. It has geographical undertones.

Murphy and Sweeney are the two most powerful elected officials in the state, and it shouldn't come as a surprise when they advocate for their own regions.

Both sides have already engaged in a number of skirmishes, going all the way back to when Sweeney's gubernatorial hopes were dashed in favor of Murphy.

They have pushed opposing initiatives that have led to conflict, most notably Murphy's desire to hit up the state's millionaires with a tax increase to raise revenues to help pay for his progressive agenda.

Last budget season, Murphy won a partial victory with his tax on millionaires with earnings over $5 million. But a year later, he's back looking for the rest, with a tax on millionaires with earnings over $1 million. Sweeney begrudgingly budged the first time; he appears unwilling to do it again.

Sweeney is still looking for a win in his fight to rein in public employee pension and health benefits. Sweeney has a union background, but Murphy seems to be the bigger cheerleader, although he has touted as an important concession his recent negotiation of a proposed $800 million in health care spending reductions.

Despite these clear divisions between Murphy and Sweeney, nothing has exposed them more glaringly than the controversies surrounding the Schools Development Authority and the Economic Development Authority.

With the former, Murphy appointed a political compatriot as its chief, who then filled the authority with handsomely-paid family members and friends. Sweeney was "absolutely shocked" by such overt patronage and called for the SDA to be abolished.

With the latter, Murphy was disturbed by the billions in tax incentives the EDA approved for businesses. Following a critical audit of the authority by the state comptroller in January, Murphy appointed a task force to investigate the number of jobs created and has demanded an overhaul of the incentive programs, including putting a cap on the money.

Sweeney objects, defending the work of the EDA, but he's also miffed that the governor's task force has zeroed in on the tax incentives offered to businesses that promised to revitalize Camden, many of them with connections to Norcross. In fact, the criticism has been so pointed that it lured the normally spotlight-shy Norcross to the front lines to publicly defend himself and blast Murphy and his wife.

That brings us to this week and the dark-money bill Murphy conditionally vetoed on Monday. The measure received near unanimous support in the Legislature, and has been lauded for requiring dark-money groups operating in New Jersey to reveal their donors.

But ...

The original legislation targeted a 501(c)4 nonprofit that has paid for advertising promoting Murphy's agenda. The recommendations in the governor's veto aim to close “egregious loopholes” and would require companies receiving “large-scale tax credits” from the state to make similar donor disclosures.

So the battle lines are drawn, revealing more than anything the ever widening schism between the powerful players in New Jersey's Democratic Party. Murphy vs. Sweeney and Norcross. North vs. South.

Is this an all-out war? All that's missing are the flags and blue and gray uniforms.

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